


Delicate

by Neuqe



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Other characters get mentioned, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 05:20:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16011107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neuqe/pseuds/Neuqe
Summary: Eight times people find out about Jace and Simon, even though they are trying to keep it as a secret





	Delicate

**Author's Note:**

> This is a (late) birthday present for Jacky who is the best <3 I cannot tell you at which point this fic takes place, but somewhere in 3b although this is a happy au, so most of the angst is ignored. Also, in this fic Jordan isn't an awful person and he doesn't know Maia.

1.

 

Luke sits at one of the booths at the Jade Wolf, rubbing his temples as he attempts to go through a stack of reports about robberies. Ollie believes they are all connected somehow and they might have something supernatural about them.

 

“Hey, do you have a moment?”

 

Luke sighs as he looks up from his papers and he is slightly surprised to see Jace standing next to his table. He does not know why he is even mildly surprised to see him. Lately, he has seen Jace around the docks more than actual members of his pack.

 

He is wearing full shadowhunters gear and his hand is resting on the handle of his seraph blade. Luke guesses it is only a habit. His eyebrows are arched in a way that Luke would call worried or serious, but then again, he does not know Jace that well and he is surprisingly hard to read.

 

“Is this about Clary?” Luke asks, suddenly feeling a jolt of worry spike through him. He hates even thinking about the possibility of her being hurt or in danger, again.

 

It is his first thought, because Jace does not talk to him alone that much. It usually has to do with official shadowhunters business, Clary or both. He suddenly remembers that he has not seen her with him in ages, nor has she talked about him that often.

 

Jace looks perplexed but then he shakes his head. “No.”

 

Luke lets himself relax and he leans back on his seat. He tries to study Jace, figure out his business, but it is still difficult. He is not an open book.

 

“Is this about Simon then?” He asks, even though he knows he should let Jace speak, but he likes to investigate and figure things out. He has a gut feeling that there is something going on between Jace and Simon, but he cannot put his finger on it.

 

“Why would this be about Simon?” Jace asks, sounding only slightly exasperated. He shifts his weight from one foot to another. 

 

Luke shrugs as innocently as he can. He wonders whether Jace realises that he said Simon’s name differently. It is softer than other words. 

 

“I’ve noticed you have spent a lot of time together,” Luke says, casually, trying his best not to seem like he is accusing him of anything. He is not interrogating him, he is just curious. Simon is like a son to him and he likes to know what is happening in his life.

 

“We have become--friends, against my better judgement,” Jace says, looking at his papers instead of him, but Luke does not miss the brief pause he keeps before saying friends, as if he was not sure what label he should have used. 

Luke thinks he has finally figured it out. There is a pattern and while he did not necessarily expect Jace and Simon to become friends, let alone more than friends, in a way it makes sense. He is less surprised than he would have imagined. Jace and Simon have a certain spark between them and they have gone through a lot, more than most people do. They are different, but their differences seem to work together, balance each other out. 

 

“Friends?” He asks, breaking into smile, trying his best not to sound too amused.

 

Jace, however, seems to pick up the clue that he has realised something they might not have wanted him to realise. He frowns quickly before composing himself back together. 

 

“Yeah, Alec asked if you have time to visit the institute today. He wants to show you some papers before the next downworlder cabinet meeting,” Jace says quickly, and skillfully changes the topic of discussion.

 

“Tell him, I’ll call him later,” Luke says, gathering up his papers and lets the Simon thing slide. Jace merely nods as a form of acknowledgement and apparently it works as a goodbye too, because he leaves the restaurant immediately after.

 

Luke smiles to himself as he refocuses to the reports in front of him. 

 

However, his peace is interrupted again. This time the interrupter is Simon. He slides into his booth and takes the seat opposite of him. 

 

“Have you seen Jace?” He asks as a form of greeting. 

 

“He left maybe ten minutes ago,” Luke answers, as he sips his already cold coffee, and abandons all hope of reading the reports.

 

“He forgot his stele and I wanted to give it back to him,” he replies, casually pulling the stele out of the pocket of his hoodie, “he probably needs this, right?”

 

He places it to the table, but he keeps fidgeting with it and taps the wooden surface of the table with it, too. 

 

“He forgot his stele at the boathouse?” Luke asks, biting down his smile. He does not know how he did not figure it out earlier. They are obviously hiding it for reasons unknown to him, but they are obviously bad at hiding it, too.

 

Simon does not act like Jace forgetting his stele at his place would be unordinary or strange in any way, and maybe this is not even the first time it has happened, Luke has no way of knowing, but he knows from experience that shadowhunters do not forget their steles just  _ anywhere. _

 

Obviously, shadowhunters sometimes misplace their steles because they are small and thin. They keep falling out of their pockets while fighting and they are fragile too, and cannot endure everything. They will eventually break. So, they are breakable and replaceable, but still so integral and valuable to shadowhunter that they just do not leave them lying around accidentally on random places.

 

The place would have to hold some sort of meaning to them. Shadowhunters do not let go of their steles especially when being on duty, so the place would have to be the kind where they feel relaxed and safe. A place where they are something else and something more than a shadowhunter. A place where they think something else than duty and hunting.

 

For most shadowhunters, that place is home or the institute, but for Jace Herondale, it seems to be Simon Lewis’ boathouse. 

 

Luke is unsure whether he should mention it to Simon or if he knows already. 

 

“Yeah,” Simon confirms with a nod. He puts the stele on his palm and delicately runs his finger over the pattern that decorates it. He looks at the stele as if it was something valuable and irreplaceable, even though the institute most likely has dozens of them.

 

“Simon,” he says, and Simon looks up to him from the stele even though he seems distraught, “I’m glad you’re happy,” he continues with a soft smile, and he genuinely means it.

 

It is not exactly what he meant to say and he knows he should respect their decision to keep things under the wraps for now, but he still wants Simon to know it.

 

“Jace is just a--friend,” Simon says, not at all convincingly, and Luke almost laughs because he keeps the exact same pause that Jace did. 

 

“Sure, if you want to call him that,” Luke says, laughing and leans back on his seat and grins. “I never mentioned Jace, though,” he adds.

 

Simon looks almost embarrassed as he realises it too. He opens his mouth but abruptly closes it again. He stares at his coffee cup intensively enough to make him look as if he believed the cup holds the secrets of the universe.

 

Luke chuckles, but he lets the topic go. “I can take that to the institute later,” he says, pointing at the stele.

 

Simon closes his hand around it, and he shakes his head, but there is a tiny grin on his lips. “I think I’m gonna take it. I need to return some books to the library, anyway.”

 

It is very clearly an excuse. The library Simon uses is on the opposite side of the city. It is miles away but Luke does not say anything because he knows that Simon knows he can see through him and it is almost endearing how happy he is.

 

Luke remembers how it feels to be so head over heels in love with someone that he would come up with excuses to see them even for a few minutes, and he is glad Simon has found that someone for himself.

 

“Sure,” Luke says with a half-smile.

 

Simon smiles back at him, almost gratefully, before leaving the booth and restaurant. Luke chuckles as he continues reading.

 

2.

 

Clary knows she has not been the best friend to Simon lately, but now that things are relatively quiet and none of her relatives are trying to take over the world or destroy half of it, she has noticed subtle differences in him. 

 

For starters, he smiles more. She has known him for years and he has always been the type to smile and grin, but lately, the smiles have not been bright, but dim and only half there. Now, they are as brilliant and frequent and genuine as before. 

 

He seems more confident in himself, his powers and his music. He cracks jokes about everything and anything, even about being a vampire, and Clary hopes it is a sign that he has finally accepted what happened to him. 

 

Generally, he seems happier and carefree. He is chirpy, his laugh is louder and more vibrant and he almost seems to be glowing. Clary has drawn dozens of sketches of him in the last weeks because his happiness is so captivating. 

 

It does not take her long to realise that Simon is in love. She has seen it before and she has been in the receiving end of it, but none of that seems to compare to the state Simon is currently in.

 

It takes her considerably longer to realise who is making Simon happy. At first, she thinks it might be someone she does not know. A complete stranger. Maybe someone from college, but she quickly comes to the realisation that Simon spends most of his time with people she knows.

 

Her next logical choice is Maia. She is beautiful and amazing, and she knows they dated at some point. Simon spends a lot of time with her and they seem to enjoy each other’s company. Then, Izzy tells her she asked Maia out, and her theory is ruined.

 

It is only after one of their missions go awry that she realises who Simon’s special someone is.

 

The mission is not a complete disaster. They have had a lot worse ones. The fact that nobody gets captured, possessed, dies and then gets resurrected, makes it stay away from the top five of worst missions ever. 

They even manage to destroy the demon nest and three demons at the outskirts of the city, but Izzy gets thrown at a brick wall and she dislocates her shoulder. Jace shatters his kneecap when he falls down from a low rooftop when he loses his balance. She got a nasty cut on her shin from the claws of one of the demons. 

 

A lot of iratzes are exchanged, but still, as soon as they arrive to the institute, Alec sends all of them to the infirmary. She and Izzy are discharged almost immediately, but Jace stays there, even when they go to debrief Alec.

 

The debriefing does not last long. Alec is the one who has to deal with all the paperwork and it was a routine mission. Clary has every intention to go back to the infirmary to keep Jace company because shattered kneecap takes time to heal, but she stops dead on her tracks at the doorway of the infirmary because Jace is not alone.

 

Simon is there with him. 

 

He sits at the end of his hospital bed, legs crossed, but he is still careful not to touch the injured leg that is supported by a pile of pillows. The narrow bed looks cramped, a serious violation of personal space, but none of them seem to care.

 

“Can I say something?” Simon asks, and he seems to hold a deck of cards. He is only half focused on mixing them as he keeps staring at Jace.

 

“Sure.”

 

“No more ‘I fell from a rooftop, come to the infirmary?’ texts  like ever again. They keep rising my anxiety levels a lot,” he tells him, sounding surprisingly honest.

 

“Okay, a fair point, sorry,” Jace says, softly, and Clary is surprised by the look on his face. It is full of fondness and tenderness, and to be honest, he looks at Simon as if he hung the stars and the moon. 

 

Clary does not mean to eavesdrop, but her enhanced hearing rune is still activated from the hunt and she is already there. Also, she is genuinely curious.

 

“I’m glad you told me, but really, the first sentence the next time better be that ‘I’m okay but,” Simon remarks, still mixing the cards.

 

“So you aren’t telling me to stop falling from rooftops,” Jace jokes with a shiteating grin.

 

“I’m not ‘cause I know it would be useless. Gravity won’t stop working and you’re still you,” he remarks with a glare and nudges his leg with his elbow.

 

“Ow.”

 

“It was the uninjured leg,” Simon points out, helpfully, and Jace chuckles.

 

“Pick a card,” he orders, offering the pack of cards to him. 

 

“This is stupid,” Jace mutters, but he is still smiling and his eyeroll is very unconvincing. Clary is not certain if he means the cards or something else.

 

“It isn’t,” Simon insists, and even though Clary cannot see his face properly anymore, she knows he is grinning. “It’d be a lot more stupid if I let you rot here alone with your broken leg, but I’m not doing it and I’ve practised this trick so, pick a card.”

 

“It’s a shattered kneecap and I’m not rotting here, it will be fine soon,” Jace corrects him matter-of-factly, but he still picks a card and quickly looks at it before pressing it against his leg.

 

He still looks at him the same way as before, full of warmth and affection, but Simon does not seem bothered by it at all. The look makes Clary think she is witnessing something a lot more intimate than a card trick.

 

Simon does some elaborate hand movements over the deck of cards and his movements kind of remind Clary of Magnus and Jace sounds as if he was suffocating because he is trying his best not to laugh.

 

“It’s the spade five,” Simon declares proudly, but now Jace is laughing and he is not trying to hide it at all.

 

“Not even close,” he manages to say, while grinning widely.

 

“That’s just a statistical error,” Simon comments and pauses for a moment. “It’s the queen of diamonds.”

 

“No,” Jace says, shaking his head and biting his lip.

 

“King of hearts?”

 

“Now you’re just guessing, and no,” he informs, very unhelpfully.

 

Simon laughs and it is a happy and warm laughter. “I give up. I clearly didn’t practise this enough.”

 

“Obviously,” he comments, but it lacks all the usual sarcasm. “It was ace of clubs,” he tells, showing the card to him.

 

“That would have been my next guess, sunshine.”

 

“So you’re admitting you were only guessing,” Jace says amusedly, and his tone sounds almost teasing, but he still looks as if he could start laughing at any given moment. He seems completely unfazed by the nickname Simon slips in. 

Clary wonders whether it is a regular thing or if Jace is just used to Simon giving him random nicknames. 

 

“Never,” he replies, and Clary is ninety nine percent sure he is rolling his eyes spectacularly. “Do you play cards?”

 

“Yeah,” Jace replies immediately, and something about the way he says it makes Clary think he would have said yes to anything if it meant Simon would stay with him. 

 

It has been a while since she has seen Jace to enjoy someone’s company that much, especially someone who is not his sibling. 

 

“Good,” he chuckles, “because I’m gonna kick your ass,” he declares smugly, and starts to spread the cards on the bed.

 

“That’s what you think,” Jace replies, and Clary decides to leave because she definitely has a new theory about Simon’s love life.

 

***

 

She believes in her theory and she thinks it is almost foolproof, but then she gets even more support for her theory.

 

She accidently witnesses one of their moments again and this time it is purely by accident. She has been training with Izzy and Lydia for the whole morning and she is heading to kitchen to fill her water bottle, but she hears laughter coming from the kitchen before she even reaches the door.

 

She glances at the kitchen and she only catches a glimpse of Jace before he dives behind one of the kitchen islands. Then she hears the wet sound of spaghetti hitting the wooden surface of the cupboard behind where Jace’s head just was.

 

She realises it was Simon who threw the spaghetti, probably aiming at Jace, but missed. 

 

“Stop it, I’ve it in my hair,” Jace manages to say in between his laughter, but it only makes Simon laugh twice as hard.

 

“What a travesty. A true national tragedy,” he tells him with the biggest grin, “you should’ve ducked faster,” he advices, and Clary spots a few spaghettis in his hair as well.

 

“Says the one with vampire reflexes,” Jace mutters, apparently picking up more spaghetti from somewhere because another bunch of spaghetti lands to next Simon’s foot, and he only avoids it with his inhumane speed.

 

He picks up the same bunch and throws it. Jace tries to duck fast enough, but by the sound of it, Simon does not miss his target this time. 

“Yeah, and you have your training, runes and angel blood and whatever, so it’s a fair game,” Simon calls to him.

 

“I-,” Jace starts, but he starts chuckling again, and soon is full out laughing and wheezing. He is laughing so hard that Clary is not sure if he is breathing properly anymore and she catches a glimpse of his face that is an alarming shade of red.

 

His laughter is bubbly, uncontrollable and it stems from somewhere deep. He sounds genuinely joyful as he tries to stand up by grabbing the edge of the kitchen island but he cannot stand straight and ends up holding his stomach.

 

He has a sauce stain on his left cheek and occasional spaghetti on his shoulder. He is still shaking with laughter. Clary is not sure what is so amusing about an impromptu food war, but maybe there is something else behind it, but she is glad they are laughing. She wonders if he has told him about his childhood dream of bath of spaghetti.

 

“Come and help me up,” Simon says, and Jace is immediately by his side and grabs his hand and pulls him up.

 

“I’m not sure if this whole spaghetti in hair is a right look for you,” Simon tells him, softly, picking up spaghetti from his hair.

 

“Really? I think I could pull it off,” Jace deadpans.

 

Simon dissolves into giggles again, and Clary decides to give them privacy in the middle of the mess they have done.

 

***

Three days later, Clary does not think it is a theory anymore, it is a fact. They are in love. 

 

It is a Friday night, and they are at a Hunter’s Moon and Simon is playing the second gig of the week. Alec and Magnus are playing pool in the corner and Maia is working behind the counter but spends all of her free time with Izzy who sits at one of the bar stools.

 

She and Jace are the only ones paying attention to Simon and his music. They are sharing a small table near the stage, near enough to see Simon properly under the spotlights. He has written a bunch of new songs and he seems to enjoy performing them.

 

Clary makes the mistake of glancing at Jace during one of the songs. She has to bite the straw of her drink to prevent herself from laughing. He looks more enamoured than Clary thought was possible. There is a certain softness in the way he looks at him, and he is the only one he sees, even though Clary is fairly certain Luke and Maryse enter the bar mid-song and are sitting in the opposite corner, quite possibly having a date.

 

She kind of wants to draw him, merely because he looks so focused and so in love. Simon stops playing and people around them start clapping loudly. He says a few words before starting the next song and he looks at Jace with a sheepish smile. 

 

Jace nods, but his smile is so fond and Clary seriously wonders whether they actually think and believe they are being discreet.

 

The song is as wonderful as rest of them, but it also turns out it is the sappiest song Simon has ever written and the lyrics are painfully clearly about Jace. As she sips her drink again, she shoots him a knowing look, but Jace decides to ignore her.

 

***

 

A week later, she and Simon are hanging out in a park they used to go as children. It is close to her old apartment and thinking about it and her mother makes her heart ache. It is a sunny afternoon and she sits at one of the swings, slowly swinging back and forth, and Simon is next to him, even though his swinging is even slower.

 

It feels nice and normal, kind of like before. It is calm and quiet, and she likes it, but she also wants to talk to him, but he looks like he is deep in his thoughts.

 

“Are you okay?” She asks, gently kicking him in his shin.

 

“Yeah,” he says as his face breaks into a smile, “remember when we wanted to see how fast we could swing in these and I ended up losing a tooth after I fell and you had a sprained ankle because you decided to jump?”

 

“Our moms were so angry with us,” Clary replies, laughing as she remembers the exact look her mother gave to her when she heard what had happened. “I don’t think we were allowed to go the park by ourselves for months.”

 

Simon chuckles too. “It was probably for the best, we were like six,” he points out, but his smile disappears. “Are you okay?” He asks, vaguely nodding towards the direction of the place she used to call home.

 

“Kind of,” she says, trutfully, with a thin smile. Sadness and longing is always there, but it is getting easier.

 

Silence falls between them and even though it is not an uncomfortable one, Clary still decides to keep talking.

 

“So is there something you want to tell me?” She asks, glancing at him, with a knowing smile.

 

“What?”

 

Simon stops the swing with his feet, and keeps staring at the sand and his sand-covered sneakers. He looks perplexed, but Clary has known him for so long, she knows he is only pretending to be confused.

 

“You and Jace,” she clarifies with a soft smile.

 

“What about us?” He asks, sounding a little unsure.

 

“Is there an ‘us’?” She asks, being genuinely curious. She knows there is something going on between them, but she is not sure if she is witnessing the most epic pining after each other situation or if they have actually talked about it. 

 

At first, she was certain they would be dating by now, but then again, Simon is not the fastest at confessing his feelings, she knows this, and Jace is a little emotionally constipated. 

 

“Maybe,” Simon admits as vaguely as possible, but a small smile forms on his lips and he cannot prevent it.

 

Clary beams at him. “I mean if you haven’t figured it out, you should. It’s clear as day that he lo-”

 

“We have figured it out,” Simon interrupts her, in a quiet voice. “It just kind of--happened,” he tells, clearly smiling at his own memory, but it seems he is not ready to share it, yet. 

 

“That’s wonderful,” she tells him, sincerely, and he smiles at her.

 

“It’s still kind of new and we didn’t want to tell anyone so soon,” he explains, but he does not sound as if he was accusing her of figuring it out. He sounds almost relieved.

 

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” she promises with a huge grin, “but I’m really happy for both of you.”

 

Simon’s smile is small, but still shining with gratefulness. “Thanks.”

 

3.

It is late afternoon when Izzy walks by the training room. She has a suspicion that Jace is in the training room and she needs to what was the reason for the third broken stele of the month. She has a monthly report to fill and Jace can help her fill it, but she does not expect to find Simon as well.

The very least thing she is expecting is to find Jace and Simon sparring. 

Jace corrects the position of his legs and Simon groans. “Tell me again why we are doing this?”

“Because you cannot keep biting demons,” he replies, matter-of-factly, and gently touches his side to rotate his torso to the left.

“First of all, that was _ one _ time,” he defends himself, “and I was panicking. I’m not a shadowhunter, I don’t deal with demons as much as you guys do.”

Izzy has to admit that Simon has a valid point.

“Yeah, but you’re a trouble magnet,” Jace argues and steps back to look at Simon’s position, nodding approvingly. “And this will be fun.”

Izzy shakes her head. Only Jace could think that sparring with someone who has not trained for it his whole life would be fun, but at least he has a point with the trouble magnet thing. 

Jace drags one of the punching bags middle of the room and starts instructing him how to properly punch someone. He is a great teacher when it comes to fighting, Izzy thinks, and she cannot come up with anything she would have done differently. 

He has surprisingly lot patience even though Simon holds his thumb wrong seven out of ten times when he punches the bag. Slowly, Izzy realises that his touch is gentler than usually when he puts Simon’s hand in a different position and demonstrates how the punch should land. His touch is still gentle when he twists his wrist to other way.

Maybe their bodies are closer than necessary, but neither one of them seem to mind. In fact, they even seem to lean onto each other’s touch.

Simon is even smiling. 

Izzy decides to ask about the stele later.

***

She finishes writing her report, except for Jace’s broken steele, and she goes to look for him again, but Jace and Simon are still training.

The punching bag has been abandoned to the side and by the looks of it, it seems they have actually been sparring. At least, Jace is wiping sweat off his forehead and his breath is slightly laboured. 

“Once more?” He suggests with a smile.

“Fine,” he agrees, “but I’m still convinced you’re doing this only to enlarge your already enormous ego,” he says, but his words have no real heat behind them and he actually takes the correct fighting stance. 

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” Jace deadpans.

Izzy cannot tell if Simon has improved or if Jace is going easy on him, but he manages to block few of his punches and hold his ground, until Jace knocks his feet and he loses his balance, but so does Jace, and they fall. 

Izzy notices Jace breaks the fall in a wrong way. If one falls on top of the opponent, they are supposed to break the fall with their body and hope that immobilises them for a moment, at least, but Jace manages to take most of the impact on his side and arm.

It is a rookie mistake and Izzy knows there is no way he did it accidently. He just did not want Simon to get hurt.

Jace groans slightly, but he does not move anywhere. Simon looks at him strangely, with genuine concern, and touches his face. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he breathes out, flashing a brilliant smile. 

Simon looks at him as if he was the centre of the universe and breaks into grin. He does not seem to mind that Jace is half-lying on top of him and that he is pinned against the training mat. He whispers something that is inaudible to her and Jace laughs. 

Izzy decides to leave and write on her report that Jace stepped on his stele and broke it.

***

A few days later, Izzy finds Jace going through a low quality surveillance footage on one of the computer screens. She touches his shoulder and he looks up, giving her a small smile.

“I heard you were looking for me,” Izzy says as a greeting as she pulls one of the chairs closer and sits on it. 

“Yeah,” he replies as he scratches his neck. “I could use your help with this. Do you think that is a demon?” 

Jace moves his chair so that she can see the screen properly. The footage is from some alley. It looks like it is filled with trash cans and the quality of it is not good, but it is unmistakably a demon. The video is fuzzy and mostly just pixels, but it looks like it might have a tail and long claws.

“It looks like it,” she confirms.

“Great, thanks. Did you also get Underhill’s message about his seraph blade?”

“I did, he will get a new one tomorrow,” she replies, remembering that she should probably let him know as well, but then she notices something odd about Jace’s shirt.

“Isn’t that Simon’s shirt?” She asks with a coy smile because it is her given right as his sister to tease him mercilessly. 

 

It is a plain, dark blue t-shirt, not one of those graphic t-shirts Simon usually wears, but she could still swear it is his.

“No?” Jace says and it sounds way too much like a question and he glances down. “It’s mine,” he says, sounding a little hesitant, and it sounds only a bit more convincing than before.

“I could swear Simon was wearing that yesterday,” Izzy tells him with a huge smirk.  She saw him yesterday at the hunter’s moon and he was wearing a very similar looking shirt.

“It was a different shirt.”

“Of the exact same shade of blue?” She asks, amusedly, raising her eyebrows. 

“It’s-- why would I be wearing Simon’s dirty shirt?” He stammers a little, but he still sounds as if he thinks he has outsmarted her with his reply.

Izzy drums the edge of the table with her fingers and hums. “You tell me, I can come up with a few reasons.”

Jace merely stares at her.

She sighs and places her hand on his. “Look, I’m your sister and love you, but I have eyes and I know you and Simon are a thing,” she says softly. 

Jace just keeps staring at her, and he clearly wants to say something, but he stays quiet. Probably looking for right words. “Yeah,” he finally says.

“I’m happy for you,” she says, sincerely, but her curiosity is stronger than her willingness to let it be. “Why haven’t you told anyone?”

Jace shrugs, being seemingly nonchalant. “I don’t know. It was his idea,” he says, looking at the screen instead of her.

“Maybe you should talk about it to him,” she advices him gently, and pulls her hand away. “I need to go, if you want ever to talk about it, I’m here for you,” she adds as she stands up.

“Thanks, Izzy,” he half-mutters, as he still looks at the screen, but he glances at her briefly. 

“No problem,” she tells him as she is already walking away because she knows that is the best she is going to get out of him right now. Yet, she turns around because it is her duty as a sister. “Also, when you’re ready to make it official, tell Simon he’s invited to family dinner. Mom will want to meet him.”

She only gets a soft groan as a reply.

4.

The praetor lupus debriefed Kyle fully about his mission to protect Simon Lewis. He had been given enough information about his likes and dislikes to know how to decorate the apartment so that it would seem to be the perfect fit for him.

He was given the specifics of how he became a vampire and he knew enough crucial details to ensure the success of the mission, but what he was not prepared for was Simon’s personal life.

Sure, he does not need to know everything about his life. It makes him seem more like a genuine stranger who just happens to be his roommate. Most of the things about his life are completely unrelated to Kyle’s mission, but figuring out who is Simon’s significant other is like working on a puzzle that is missing half of the pieces.  

He tells him he is dating someone, but he does not mention name or gender, which does not help him at all. The other thing that does not help him is the fact that Simon is loveable. Everyone in his life seems to genuinely like him and maybe even love him. He has a very charming personality. 

At first, Kyle thinks it must be Clary. She visits their place a few times and she makes him laugh. They definitely have something going on between them, but then he learns they are best friends who used to date but broke up and now Clary is with someone named Lydia.

His second guess is a bartender named Maia, because Simon looks at her as if she was the most precious person in the universe and they definitely have a spark between them, and they seem to have fun together, but then it turns out she is one of his exes.

Then there is Isabelle Lightwood. She keeps smiling at Simon if they shared a secret that no one else knew and she keeps kissing his cheek every time they see each other. Later, Kyle learns that she is dating Maia.

Then the head of the vampire clan visits their apartment, apparently to talk about important vampire business, but there is still tension between them and Kyle cannot name what is causing it.

“Your boyfriend?” He asks from the couch when he leaves and Simon closes the door behind him. 

“Him? No, no, no,” he says, shaking his head. “He is just--Raphael. I don’t know it’s confusing. He saved me, but then we kind of fell out of it and he kept threatening my family and now I guess it’s more like a hate relationship,” he babbles on before he disappears into his room.

Kyle feels as if his head is exploding because all of it is just confusing. He considers drawing a mind map.

 

Then one day, yet another ridiculously hot shadowhunter appears behind their door.

“Kyle, this is Jace, he is a good friend of mine,” Simon says, sounding a little unsure about the last part.

Kyle looks at Jace, who says at the same time “friend of a friend.”

Now they are glaring at each other, as if accusing the other one for not sticking with the lie they had agreed on and Kyle thinks he has finally figured it out.

He feels only slightly uncomfortable, so he excuses himself with lunch, just as he promised to Simon when he moved in. If he has a significant other over, he will leave and give them peace and space, and Simon does not protest when he leaves.

When he comes back, the whole apartment reeks like Jace. Soon enough Jace is suspicious of him and blows his cover as he swings his seraph blade and pins him against the wall. Kyle knows, logically, that he should be at least slightly panicking or thinking of some kind of contingency plan.

Still, all he is able to think about is something one of the elders at the praetor said when he was teaching them about shadowhunters. Shadowhunters fiercely protect the ones they love, and Kyle wants to laugh because he finally has it figured out.

He is surprised how hurt Simon is after he learns the truth. He feels bad because Simon is a great guy and he seems genuinely upset that he was not telling the truth about his intentions. He is raising his voice and threatening to move out and it is the last thing he wants. 

He is very surprised when the shadowhunter, out of all people, defends his idea and suggests giving him a second chance. 

“Who’s side you are on?” Simon snaps and glares at Jace, and maybe there is something more behind it, but it makes Jace look at the carpet instead of him.

“Yours, of course, and you know it,” he says, looking up at him, but Simon turns around and walks into his room. Jace follows him immediately.

Kyle does not know what Jace tells him, but Simon cools off, and he does not move out on the condition that Kyle does not lie to him or hide things anymore. He promises him that much and they continue living together.

In time, Simon starts to smell like Jace and vice versa. Jace’s dirty clothes end up in their laundry basket. More often than not, Jace is in their apartment. Sometimes they play videogames and sometimes he is just reading, and more and more frequently he spends the night.

Two weeks after Simon learns he is a werewolf, they are eating breakfast. Well, Kyle is eating breakfast and Simon is drinking blood out of coffee mug. He goes through their cupboards and makes the mental note of going to grocery store soon. He finds a packet of cereal but it is almost empty.

“Your boyfriend ate all of our food again,” he says, offhandedly, as he puts the box on the table. 

“You mean Jace?”

Kyle does not even know why he asks that. It is not like has more than one boyfriend, or at least Simon seems the type who would not cheat. “Yeah him.”

Simon looks at the mug. “It’s not--no--we--. He really isn’t my boyfriend, we are more like friends,” he explains with a lot of stammering and he sounds unconvincing.

Kyle adds ‘bad at lying’ to his list of things he has learned about Simon. He does not even know why he feels the need to lie and how he apparently seriously believes he has not caught up yet, but he decides it is best not to ask. It is not his business.

“Okay, tell your Herondale then that he owes me a packet of cereal,” he mutters as he places a slice of bread in the toaster.

Simon merely snorts as a response.

 

5.

“Stop frowning,” Maia deadpans to Jace who slouches against the bar counter and stares at his drink. “Stop looking so miserable, people will think it’s because of the drink or my customer service.”

“Maybe it’s your customer service,” Jace shoots back, sarcastically as always, but it lacks the edge and his grin is dim.

Maia resists the urge to smack him with her the washing cloth she is holding in her hands, but she settles for rolling her eyes. 

She almost wants to ask what is wrong, but she is sure he would not give him a proper answer any way. Instead, she tries to guess what is bothering him because the bar is quiet and she already finished writing her biomarine essay. 

The problem would usually be that no one can quite figure out Jace. He likes to conceal his true emotions and not to show them unless he trusts the person on more than one level.

Yet, this time is not that hard to figure out what is bothering him. He keeps glancing over his shoulder at a corner near the door. Simon is standing there talking to one of the new members of the werewolf pack. She has just moved to New York, but as far as Maia knows, she is kind and brilliant and avid guitar player. 

They seem to be in deep in conversation, probably about music. Both of them are laughing and Simon keeps moving his hands as he tries to explain something. The girl, Emma, keeps touching Simon’s arm maybe unnecessarily much, and Simon seems obvious to whole thing.

“Stop that,” Maia says again, with a vague hand gesture towards Jace’s face, and with gentler voice, “he’s only got eyes for you,” she adds, nodding towards him.

Jace keeps glancing at him at all wrong the moments. Every time he is not watching, Simon watches him. 

“What?” Jace asks, sounding almost dumbfounded, but Maia stares at him with a knowing smirk until he gives up and shakes his head in defeat. “How do you know?”

“Izzy might have implied it,” Maia tells him, grinning now, “and after that connecting the dots wasn’t that difficult at all, you guys stare at each other a lot.”

Jace opens his mouth, but then abruptly closes it again. He gives a sheepish smile to his glass.

“Hey,” Simon greets both of them as he takes the seat next to Jace. He slides his hand up Jace’s arm.

“Hey,” Maia greets him back with a genuine smile, “are you still gonna play that gig tomorrow?”

“Yeah, of course,” he replies immediately, and he is beaming, and it is clear as day that he is excited about it. His smile is contagious. “Is everything okay?” He asks immediately after, directing the question mostly to Jace.

“Yeah,” he says, drinking rest of his drink at one go. 

“You sure?” Simon repeats, stubbornly attempting to look Jace in the eyes while he refuses. 

“Yeah,” he says again, but this time he sounds more unsure and less convincing. A frown lingers on Simon’s face for a moment, but then disappears as fast as it appeared. He hums and lets it slide for now.

“Any chance you would know what is Izzy’s favourite restaurant of all time?” She asks, partly to change the subject and partly because she needs their advice. “It’s our two months anniversary next weekend.”

Jace and Simon are surprisingly helpful and Jace lists five potential restaurants, and Simon keeps giving her general advice before they go and sit at one of corner tables. 

She cannot hear what they are saying. They are too far away and the bar is slowly filling with customers, but she catches occasional glimpses of the pair. It actually looks as if they talk about it. At least, Jace looks slightly uncomfortable and borderline ashamed, but then Simon caresses his face briefly, and the smile that could outshine the sun returns.

Maia gives him thumbs ups when they leave the bar a little later.

 

6.

Alec tries his best to finish writing an official proposal to Clave asking for more resources, but he has a hard time to focus on anything related to numbers and statistics when Jace keeps snorting at his phone.

Alec does not even know what Jace is doing in his office. Nothing important, at least. He merely walked in and sat down at one of the chairs. Alec has lost the track of how long he has sat there. At least an hour and he has not even said much.

It is not even the first time it has happened. Izzy and Max keep doing the same. Last week, he asked Izzy about it and the only answer he received was a shrug and ‘we like your office, big brother’ and it is not like he is intending to kick them out.

“What’s so funny?” He asks, abandoning the proposal momentarily. 

“Nothing,” Jace replies, looking up from his phone and flashing his best attempt at innocent smile, but Alec knows better than to trust on that.

“Okay,” he says and leans back on his chair, “let me rephrase that, who’s so funny?”

“What?” Jace asks, perplexed, and maybe for a moment his confusion is real, but after that he keeps on pretending. His frown is slightly too deep and he never furrows his eyebrows that much when he is genuinely confused.

“I’m an expert of pining and you were pining weeks ago, and now you’re not,” he explains with a vague hand gesture towards his face. “And we’re bonded,” he adds, placing his palm on his side, approximately on the parabatai rune, “and I can feel you’re happy or happier, at least.”

Jace blinks a few times, still staring at him. 

“If you say it’s Simon, then Magnus owes me a lunch,” he adds, almost as an afterthought. He does not even bother to list any sort of evidence for his hutch. He just knows. It is that simple.

“It’s Simon,” Jace replies, without missing a beat, and a huge grin appears on his face. 

“Great,” Alec replies, mirroring his smile, and he is genuinely happy for him and Simon too, but also, the feeling of being right is great.

 

7.

 

Max’s rune lessons are over and he is heading to his room but someone call his name.

“Hey, Max, look what I found for you,” Simon says as soon as he catches up with him on the hallway. He grins widely as he hands him a huge pile of comic books. Max quickly glances at the pile and he sees a lot of Wonder Woman and Spider-man comics. 

“Thank you,” he says sincerely and grins back at him excitedly. “Where did you find these?”

“I was cleaning my old room and I thought you might want them,” he explains.

Max likes Simon. He is funny and he brings him comics and he is actually willing to talk about them with him. He always seems genuinely interested in what he has to say. He has been hanging out at the institute a lot more lately and Max likes it and he has a suspicion that his brother likes it too.

“I do,” Max replies, nodding furiously, and he hugs the comics closer to his chest.

“Awesome,” Simon remarks, giving him thumbs up before turning away, but Max still has questions.

“Simon? Are you dating my brother?”

He stops immediately and turns around again. He looks as if he is not completely certain what to say and Max cannot figure out why. It is a simple question that can be answered with a yes or no. He is sure he is dating Jace, but nobody ever tells him stuff that they consider to be adult business.

Eventually, Simon breaks into a smile and tilts his head slightly. “Why do you think that?”

Max was not really expecting a question, but he is prepared and he has evidence. Ever since he caught Sebastian on a lie, he has practised being observant. It might be useful later and he likes being a detective.

“You’re here often, which is nice,” Max starts and Simon smiles at him. “And Jace smiles around you and thinks that your jokes are funny, even though most of the time they aren’t.”

He chuckles at that even though he looks a little surprised.

“You brought him french fries as a lunch yesterday and you look at him in the same way as Alec looks Magnus,” he continues, feeling rather proud that he has gathered this much evidence. “And he calls you often.”

“You really are observant,” Simon compliments him, and it makes Max happy because he had noticed all of those things and Simon is not denying any of them. “Maybe I should get you a detective book next.”

“I’d like that,” he tells him earnestly.

Simon nods, but he seems to be deep in his thoughts. He looks almost hesitant about whatever he is thinking about. “Would you mind if I dated your brother?” He finally asks, and Max does not miss the way he asks it, as if it was not happening already.

“You already are,” Max replies determinedly, making Simon laugh again, “and I’d like that, too.”

8.

Magnus is exhausted and he wants to collapse to nearest chair. Healing spells always require more energy than other spells. They are demanding and definitely not his speciality. Healing always takes and requires a part of him.

There is a small blue sofa outside of the infirmary at the institute and Magnus has lost the count of how many times he has taken a nap on it after attempting to heal wounds and save lives.

It did not use to be there. Magnus has a suspicion that Alec has acquired the sofa for this specific purpose, but he has never remembered to ask about it.

This time, the sofa is already occupied. Simon is sitting there, staring at the wall in front of him. It is not a particularly interesting wall. It is just a brick wall, so Magnus assumes he is staring at nothing. He looks exhausted as well, but in a different way than he is. He looks mostly hopeless, as if he has given up on hope. 

His whole posture radiates sorrow, and it actually makes Magnus’ heart ache. 

“He will be fine. He’s a little bruised and he will need a lot of rest, but he will live,” Magnus tells him gently. He does not want to intrude Simon’s personal space, but he really needs to sit down. Jace was badly hurt, and even though healing him was successful, he lost almost all of his energy, so he sits down next to Simon.

The sofa is little too small for two, but neither one of them moves. Simon is startled at first, but then his whole body visibly relaxes as the relief takes over. His hands are even shaking a little. 

“Is he awake?” He asks, seemingly trying to sound calm, but his voice trembles slightly.

He looks as if he will stand up and leave as soon as he gets the confirmation.

“Yes, Alexander is there with him,” he says, stretching his neck. 

Simon nods, but he sinks deeper into the sofa, making the tiny space they share even more cramped.

“Frankly, it does not get easier,” Magnus tells him as he closes his own eyes and leans back to the uncomfortable cushion behind him.

“What?”

“Watching them get hurt and knowing there is nothing you can do to stop it or prevent it,” he explains, still keeping his eyes closed.

Simon hums in agreement, but when Magnus opens his eyes for a moment, he is looking at him with a curious expression, as if he was not completely certain what he meant.

“To make the matters worse, you will always know it will happen again,” he continues. He wants to shudder at every memory of having Alexander’s blood on his hands or seeing his body limp and unconscious. “Their sense of duty is stronger than maybe anything else, at least stronger than common sense.”

Magnus gestures between them. “It’s the price of loving a nephilim.”

“Yeah,” Simon whispers and it sounds as if he comes to a some sort of realisation. Magnus cannot tell if it is a good or a bad realisation. Simon does not even question how he knows that he loves Jace. 

“It is worth it, though,” he says, decisively. “Every moment of happiness and cherished memories makes it up for all the times when your heart sinks and you cannot think straight because of worry and the numbness takes over.”

As soon as he finishes saying that, he hears the door open. He opens his eyes and sees Alec standing near the door. “Just a moment,” he says, pointing at him. Magnus nods lazily but he does not attempt to move. Alec’s moment can mean anything from three minutes to two hours. 

As soon as Alec leaves, Simon basically darts to the room, but he leaves the door slightly open. Even though, Magnus tries his best to rest and maybe even sleep, he can still hear their voices.

“Hey, are you asleep? I can come later,” Simon almost whispers and Magnus hears how he drags the chair closer to the bed.

“No, stay,” Jace’s voice is weak and barely audible to him.

“Okay. How are you feeling?” Simon asks, and his voice is still filled with worry and something else that Magnus cannot quite pinpoint.

“Everything hurts.”

“I guess it might be a side effect of getting poisoned by a demon fang and if a ceiling collapses on you,” Simon says, attempting at humor, and he lets out a small huff, making it sound as if he did not think it was particularly funny.

“Yeah,” Jace says and sounds as if he is grimacing, maybe out of pain or maybe out of something else. “Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Simon says softly and after that he keeps a long pause. “I mean sure I was worried as hell and it was awful, but I know you didn't meant to get hurt on purpose.”

“Yeah,” he replies almost immediately.

“It was terrible,” Simon continues and the pace of his speech is getting faster. “Really. I’ve always been a worrier, and I have been worried about you before, but this time it was worse. A lot worse. I knew it’d happen eventually and it will happen again and I know you cannot promise otherwise--”

“Are you--,” Jace starts weakly, but then starts coughing. “Is this a break up speech?” He sounds vulnerable but defensive at the time.

“No, you dummy,” Simon replies without missing a beat, “this is the opposite. Knowing you were hurt was horrifying and I’m not keen on feeling that again, but I know shadowhunting is what you do and you’re good at it and you cannot help whatever sense of duty you got going on and I cannot tell you stop doing it, that wouldn’t be fair. But what I’m trying to say is that you’re all worth it.”

“Really?”

“Definitely,” Simon replies, and he sounds so sure of it. As if he was reciting a fact. 

“Oh,” Jace says, sucking in his breath, but he sounds delighted nonetheless. “Also, shadowhunting isn’t a verb,” he adds, with a weak laugh.

“It definitely is, but you should sleep, you look like you need it. I’m not going anywhere,” he adds, gently.

Magnus can hear footsteps against the stone floor and as he opens his eyes again, he sees Alec standing in front of the sofa. 

“Ready to go home?” He asks, with a huge grin, and he offers his hand to him to help him up from the sofa.

“Definitely,” he tells him and he takes his hand gladly.

+1

Simon is sleeping on his bed but he wakes up to the sound of his room’s door opening and closing. The room is dark but he reaches to put on the lamp on his nightstand. The lamp casts more shadows than actually lights up the room, but he sees Jace standing there as he takes his leather jacket off.

“Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Jace whispers as he neatly folds the jacket on the nearby chair and crouches down to take his boots off.

Simon smiles at him and tries his best to suppress a yawn. “I tried to stay awake,” he tells him.

Jace had texted him earlier that he would come over but he did not know exactly when.

“It’s almost two am, the tracking of that demon took a lot longer than I expected,” Jace says before he pulls his shirt over his head. “And I need to be up and going again in five hours,” he adds, and it is an offhanded comment, the sort one says conversationally, as a complaint, but Simon’s brain decides to focus on another detail.

“And you still came here?” He blurts it out and it does not come off as he wanted to, it sounds as if he was ungrateful that he showed up only because of five hours, but what he is attempting to say is the exact opposite.

He is surprised Jace sacrificed his sleep just to see him and sleep with him for five hours when he could have slept longer if he had stayed at the institute. 

He knows Jace takes it the wrong way because his back muscles tense up as he folds his pants. He gives him a nonchalant shrug.

“I’m glad you did,” Simon whispers, sincerely, hoping that his message comes across clearer this time. He pushes the duvet aside. 

Jace smiles a tiny smile, but he seems delighted, and lies next to him. He lies on his side so that they can look at each other. They are close, mostly because they want to, and partly because Simon’s bed is so narrow. 

“You’re warm,” Jace comments as his skin touches his. Their legs are already tangled in the duvet and each other and Simon can feel Jace’s breath on his face.

“I’ve been wrapped up in this duvet like a burrito for hours now and your legs are cold,” he jokes and nudges his foot with his own.

Jace laughs and nudges him back, but still kisses his forehead.

Simon traces his jawline with his thumb and he can feel the slight stubble under his finger. “How was your day?”

“Tiring, the demon tracking was a disaster in more ways than one,” he sighs, sounding exhausted and fed up. “How was yours?”

“It was weird. Your little brother managed to insult my jokes and give us his blessing at the same time,” he explains with a soft chuckle.

“What?”

“I was at the institute earlier to give him a bunch of my old comics,” Simon says and he has to stop talking for a moment because the fondness in the way Jace is looking at him is doing unfair things to his heart, “and he just straight up asked if we were dating and presented me with his collected observations of us.”

Jace laughs against his shoulder. “He has always been clever.”

“Yeah, and we might suck at keeping this as a secret,” he offers whimsically because he has already lost count of how many people have asked or implied that they are together.

“I guess,” Jace says, and it looks suspiciously lot as if he was frowning.

“Luke knows. He figured it out by himself,” Simon tells him, because he cannot remember if he ever mentioned their talk to Jace.

“Definitely,” Jace grins, “I was half expecting him to give me a shovel talk about not breaking your heart.”

Simon rolls his eyes fondly. “He is a detective and kind of like my dad, so it is not that surprising that he knows.”

He nods. “Alec knows, too. He keeps telling me I’m happier and that he is glad I have found someone and that he guesses that someone is you, and because he was right, Magnus owes him a lunch.”

“I make you happy?” Simon asks, almost accidentally, but at the same time, he wants to know the truth because if Alec can feel his happiness through the bond, then it must be strong and genuine.

“You do,” Jace says, simply and plainly, and to be honest, Simon does not know why he expected some sarcastic remark. 

Simon cannot find the the words to express his own happiness, so he settles at kissing him quickly.

“Magnus knows, too.”

“That was expected, whatever Alec knows, he knows too. They are incapable of keeping anything like that as a secret,” Jace says, sounding amused.

“Clary knows and she figured it out by herself,” Simon adds with a sheepish smile.

“Izzy and Maia are onto us, too,” Jace admits quietly, “they also had their own track of thought and deduction with it.”

“Kyle is on the loop as well, even though I tried to deny it.”

“No wonder he knows, you’re a crappy liar,” he deadpans.

“That’s not true,” Simon tries to protest, but he cannot stop the laughter that comes out from his mouth. “When I was eight years old, I accidently broke one of my mom’s vases and he still does not know it was me who broke it.”

Jace looks as if he tries not to smile, but he smiles nevertheless. “Did she even notice it was broken?”

“No.”

“I rest my case,” he says, looking way too smug and pleased with himself.

Simon settles for rolling his eyes. “So basically everyone knows,” he mutters. He does not even know how it happened. Maybe they were being too obvious or people around them are way too observant. Maybe happiness is something that cannot be contained or kept as a secret.

“We haven’t been actually discreet,” Jace points out in a whisper, and Simon cannot really argue against it.

Jace’s face becomes unreadable and he channels all of his focus on to the edge of the duvet. “Maybe we could just tell people,” he eventually suggests slowly.

“If that’s what you want, then sure,” he replies, with an enamoured smile. He cannot see the point of keeping them as a secret any longer. Almost everyone knows and everything between them is going so well.

“Yeah,” Jace replies with an attempted nod, but his lips curl into an almost timid smile. 

“How long you have wanted to tell everyone?” Simon asks, mostly out of pure curiosity, as he takes Jace’s hand and intertwines their fingers.

“A couple of weeks,” he says sheepishly, but seemingly honest. 

“We could have told at any point you wanted,” he replies, because it is important for him that he knows it. It was Simon’s idea to keep it as a secret initially, but his only motive was to protect their little bubble and keep everyone’s expectations as far away as possible.

Jace squeezes his hand as well as he can. “I just wanted you to be comfortable about it.”

Simon merely grins at him. “So no more secrets.”

“No more secrets,” Jace echoes his whispers with as big grin as his own. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this! I know I have my multichapter jimon fic still unfinished and I promise chapter four is coming soon. This fic is a little messy and it probably has some mistakes and they are all mine.


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